# CVE-2024-43403: Kanister has a potential risk which can be leveraged to make a cluster-level privilege escalation

> A malicious user with worker node access can escalate privileges to cluster level due to excessive permissions in the default Kanister operator configuration.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 20 Aug 2024
- **Updated:** 21 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-h27c-6xm3-mcqp, GO-2024-3080

## What is CVE-2024-43403?

CVE-2024-43403 is a high-severity vulnerability in kanisterio kanister, published on 20 Aug 2024. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Kanister is a data protection workflow management tool. The kanister has a deployment called default-kanister-operator, which is bound with a ClusterRole called edit via ClusterRoleBinding. The "edit" ClusterRole is one of Kubernetes default-created ClusterRole, and it has the create/patch/udpate verbs of daemonset resources, create verb of serviceaccount/token resources, and impersonate verb of serviceaccounts resources. A malicious user can leverage access the worker node which has this component to make a cluster-level privilege escalation.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-43403?

3 open source packages ship an affected version, including github.com/kanisterio/kanister.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `github.com/kanisterio/kanister` | Go | All versions | None |
| `github.com/kanisterio/kanister` | Go | All versions | 0.0.0-20240926084453-1f40f03d8432 |
| `github.com/kanisterio/kanister` | Go | All versions | 0.0.0-20240926084453-1f40f03d8432 |

## How do I fix CVE-2024-43403?

Upgrade github.com/kanisterio/kanister to 0.0.0-20240926084453-1f40f03d8432 or later.

## Is CVE-2024-43403 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-43403 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2024-43403 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-43403 is a high-severity vulnerability in kanisterio kanister, published on 20 Aug 2024. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-43403 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- github.com/kanisterio/kanister (Go): affected all versions; no fix listed
- github.com/kanisterio/kanister (Go): affected all versions; fixed in 0.0.0-20240926084453-1f40f03d8432
- github.com/kanisterio/kanister (Go): affected all versions; fixed in 0.0.0-20240926084453-1f40f03d8432

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-43403/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-43403/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-43403
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-43403
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-43403

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-43403/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.